Russia urges ban on Syria militants’ oil trade

    "One of the sources of financing of terrorists in the Middle East is the illegal sale of oil; and various countries are buying through intermediaries," Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Monday.
 
    "We know that terrorist organizations are doing illegal oil trading from the territories of both Syria and Iraq (so since)... it is a terrorist organization, those who are buying this oil are financing terrorism."
 
The draft statement expresses UNSC’s concern over the seizure of oil fields in Syria by the Takfiri militants of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
 
The text will soon be discussed at a council session and should be adopted unanimously by all 15 council members.
 
    It also "encourages all member states to take necessary measures to prevent their nationals and entities and individuals in their territory from engaging in any commercial and financial transactions with respect to crude oil in Syria in the possession of non-state actors or sold by them."
 
Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. Over 160,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence fueled by the Western-backed militants.
 
The West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are reportedly giving financial and military support to the militants.
 
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the war in his country has strongly shifted in favor of government forces as they have made continuous gains in their fight against the militants.